Allow me to Introduce Myself.....

Well hello there, and thanks for visiting DaLiciously Vegan- a blog dedicated to all things vegan!

I'm sure your thinking "oh, great, another vegan blog." ...But I'm here to share my story my way and to speak on my own personal health journey- the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Ugly

So, let's go back to the beginning, I didn't grow up eating vegan or vegetarian, in fact the more meat, the more cheese, the more junk the better. I can remember eating McDonald's for lunch and Wendy's for dinner with no problem. Sure enough, my poor eating habits started to show when I noticed my mom buying my clothes from the Jr plus section because I could no longer fit girl sizes. Sad to say my health was headed on a downward spiral early on.

It wasn't until my older sister randomly decided one day that she was no longer eating meat. We were all confused, like, who doesn't eat meat, how will you survive? You have to remember this was back in the 90's when veganism and vegetarianism wasn't the HOTT new trend like it is today. I can remember going to the health food store and our mom buying Morning Star veggie burgers- we never knew things like that even existed. It was really a whole new world for us. Yet, still it didn't make me want to jump on the meat free band wagon.

It actually wasn't until several years later, when I made a bet with someone that I could give up pork and beef; and on that very day I stopped eating red meat and never looked back- that was 14 years ago. My decision at that time wasn't from a guilty conscience or for health reasons it was basically just to prove a point. A few years after that was when I gave up poultry and seafood, but that was an on again off again struggle. I remained vegetarian for about six years, until I became pregnant with my first child, and during my second trimester I started eating chicken. Then after having her I went back to my vegetarian diet but went back again to eating chicken during my second pregnancy and seafood with my third.

The Bad

My body/digestive system changed after each one of my pregnancies; as it does for most women but after having my last daughter was when I noticed it change dramatically. I had a lot of issues going on in my body and all at the same time. My skin changed, it became very itchy and dry, I was often constipated which caused hemorrhoids, then I started having severe stomach cramping and bloating and to top it all off I started getting painful boils on my body and cysts on my scalp which caused hair loss- I later found out that I have a condition called Hidradenitis Suppurativa <------(That' a blog all by itself).

I made the connection that I would have worse symptoms after eating certain foods, particularly dairy and refined sugar/table sugar. I was on Pinterest one day (as I always am 😄) and saw a post about a "Elimination Diet" so I decided to give it a try. For 21 days I stopped eating all dairy, eggs, soy, wheat/gluten and refined sugar. During this time I kept a food journal and wrote down what I ate and how I felt afterwards. During the diet I felt great, so great in fact that I decided to just stick with it. I eventually added soy back into my diet and found that I was okay as long as I consumed it in moderation.

The Good

From there and with all the changes in my diet VDaLish was born, and not because I was looking to start a business; but with eating a plant based diet, I had to learn how to cook- those Amy dinners started to get expensive (lol). So, I ordered several cookbooks off Amazon, and started experimenting in the kitchen. After a while, I got really good, so good that people started placing order's for me to cook for them and BOOM here I' am today!

My journey to health has had its up's and down's; I've learned so much and I'm continuing to learn even more. I still have a way's to go but I'm making strides toward's my goal's daily. While I'm on this journey I hope to motivate and inspire others to start their own journey towards their optimal health because in life we're only given ONE body, and how we treat our temple now is how it will treat us later.

P.S. Much love to my sister Alicia, for always daring to be different. If it had not been for you making what seemed to be a CRAZY decision 18 years ago who know's what I would be eating and what state my health would be in today. 😘